Boat trailers are typically equipped with a front tongue assembly at which a coupler is mounted. The coupler is adapted to couple with a ball of a trailer hitch. To couple the coupler to the ball, it is necessary to orient the coupler above the ball, and then lower the coupler onto the ball. When a boat is mounted on the trailer, lifting the front of the trailer so as to orient the coupler above the ball of a trailer hitch is a difficult task due to the weight of the boat. To overcome this problem, jacks have been mounted at the front of boat trailers.
FIG. 1 shows a prior art trailer jack configuration. The configuration includes a jack 20 pivotally connected to one side of a trailer 22. The pivotal connection allows the jack to be pivoted from a stowed position (not shown) to a deployed position (shown in FIG. 1). When in the deployed position, a wheel 26 of the jack 20 engages the ground. By turning a handle 28, portions of the jack move telescopically relative to one another to raise the front of the trailer 22. The wheel 26 allows the front of the trailer 22 to be readily moved so as to align a coupler 30 of the tongue assembly over a ball of a trailer hitch.
The side mount configuration of the jack 20 presents several problems. First, the jack projects laterally from the trailer and is exposed thereby increasing the likelihood of inadvertently bumping the lift or interfering with the ability to swing the tongue assembly to a storage position. Also, the offset configuration of the lift causes the trailer frame to torque or twist as the frame is lifted.